Les Knight

Les Knight, RAAF
Grave

Flight Lieutenant Leslie Gordon Knight DSO RAAF (7 March 1921 – 16 September 1943) was an Australian Royal Air Force Bomber Command pilot, service No. 401449. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1943 for taking part in Operation Chastise - the Dams Raid,[1] while flying with No. 617 Squadron RAF. Knight's crew, flying in N-Nan attacked and hit and broke the Eder Dam, the second dam to be attacked, after his comrades had previously scored one hit and one miss.

Knight was killed later the same year while taking part in Operation Garlic - the Dortmund–Ems Canal Raid.[2] After his Lancaster was damaged by flying into a tree he was able to allow his crew to bail out but was unable to land the aircraft. He is buried in Den Ham General Cemetery, the Netherlands.[3]

In the 1955 film The Dam Busters, Knight was played by Denys Graham.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/36030/supplements/2361 & http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/36030/supplements/2362
  2. ↑ http://www.bomberhistory.co.uk/canal_raids/ladbergen43
  3. ↑ http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2820430/KNIGHT,%20LESLIE%20GORDON


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